Signal processing for ultrasound imaging systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10794873-B2
Application number	US-201615089737-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 4, 2016
Priority date	Apr 4, 2016
Publication date	Oct 6, 2020
Grant date	Oct 6, 2020

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for selectively utilizing ultrasound data to quantify a part being scanned. One embodiment is a system that includes an ultrasonic wave generator configured to induce ultrasonic waves at locations along a part being scanned, and a controller. The controller is configured to operate the ultrasonic wave generator to collect data points that each indicate amplitude data and time-of-flight data of an ultrasonic wave at the part, to calculate a standard deviation of the time-of-flight data of the data points (σ tof ), to utilize the amplitude data to quantify the part if σ tof is less than a threshold value, and to flag the data points in memory as including noise if σ tof is greater than the threshold value.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
an ultrasonic wave generator configured to induce ultrasonic waves at locations along a part being scanned; and
a controller configured to operate the ultrasonic wave generator to collect data points that each indicate amplitude data and time-of-flight data of an ultrasonic wave at the part, to calculate a standard deviation of the time-of-flight data of the data points (σ tof ), to utilize the amplitude data to quantify the part if σ tof is less than a threshold value, and to flag the data points in memory as including noise if σ tof is greater than the threshold value.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein:
the time-of-flight data indicates a time for an ultrasonic wave induced at a surface of the part to reflect off of a back wall of the part and return for detection;
the amplitude data indicates a magnitude of the ultrasonic wave; and
the controller is configured to determine that the amplitude data corresponds to random noise if σ tof is greater than the threshold value.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein:
the controller is configured to quantify a porosity of the part based on the amplitude data, and to update a memory to indicate the porosity of the part.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein:
the controller is configured to indicate that the part is out of tolerance in response to the porosity being outside of an acceptable range.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein:
the threshold value comprises a standard deviation of random noise (σ r ) divided by a predefined constant.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein:
σ r is calculated based on a sample size equal to the number of data points used to calculate σ tof .

7. The system of claim 1 wherein:
the part comprises a multi-layer composite part.

8. A method comprising:
operating an ultrasonic wave generator to induce ultrasonic waves at each of multiple locations along a part being scanned;
collecting data points that each indicate amplitude data and time-of-flight data of an ultrasonic wave at the part;
calculating a standard deviation of the time-of-flight data for the data points (σ tof );
utilizing the amplitude data to quantify the part if σ tof is less than a threshold value, and
flagging the data points in memory as including noise if σ tof is greater than the threshold value.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:
determining that the amplitude data corresponds to random noise if σ tof is greater than the threshold value.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising:
quantifying a porosity of the part based on the amplitude data, and updating a memory to indicate the porosity of the part.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:
indicating that the part is out of tolerance in response to the porosity being outside of an acceptable range.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising:
the threshold value comprises a standard deviation of random noise (σ r ) divided by a predefined constant.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein:
σ r is calculated based on a sample size equal to the number of data points used to calculate σ tof .

14. The method of claim 8 wherein:
the part comprises a multi-layer composite part.

15. A system comprising:
a memory;
an interface; and
a controller configured to operate the interface to retrieve a scan representing a part that has been inspected via ultrasonic imaging, to populate the memory with time-of-flight data and amplitude data for each of multiple data points within the scan, to calculate a standard deviation of the time-of-flight data for the data points (σ tof ), to calculate a threshold value based on a standard deviation of random time-of-flight data, and to selectively perform signal processing on the data points by:
if σ tof is less than the threshold value: generating a report quantifying the part based on the amplitude data for the data points, and storing the report in the memory, and
if σ tof is greater than the threshold value: updating the memory to flag the scan as including noise.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein:
the time-of-flight data indicates time for a ultrasonic wave at a surface of the part to reflect off of a back wall of the part and return for detection;
the amplitude data indicates a magnitude of the ultrasonic wave after reflecting off of the back wall and returning; and
the controller is configured to determine that the amplitude data corresponds to random noise if σ tof is greater than the threshold value.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein:
the controller is configured to quantify a porosity of the part based on the amplitude data, and to include the porosity of the part in the report.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein:
the controller is configured to indicate that the part is out of tolerance in response to the porosity being outside of an acceptable range.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein:
the threshold value comprises a standard deviation of random noise (σ r ) divided by a predefined constant.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein:
σ r is calculated based on a sample size equal to the number of data points used to calculate σ tof .

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Bingham Jill Paisley

Classifications

• A61B8/461

  Displaying means of special interest · CPC title

• A61B8/54

  Control of the diagnostic device · CPC title

• G01N29/4445

  Classification of defects · CPC title

• A61B8/5269

  involving detection or reduction of artifacts · CPC title

• G01H3/10

  Amplitude; Power · CPC title